Carbon nanotube composite membrane
AssigneeIDEX Health & Science LLC
InventorsCarl Sims, Quan Liu
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Abstract
A composite membrane for separations includes a fabric with a non-woven array of intermingled carbon nanotubes, and a dopant incorporated with the fabric to form a non-porous, permeable composite. The composite membrane may be used to separate a target gas from a liquid by mounting the composite membrane in a housing chamber, and conditioning a permeate side of the chamber to establish a driving force for the target gas across the non-porous, permeable composite membrane.
Claims14
A method for preparing a composite gas separation membrane for separating a gas-liquid mixture, said method comprising:
- providing a fabric comprising a non-woven array of intermingled carbon nanotubes, wherein said non-woven array defines interstices between said intermingled carbon nanotubes;
- providing a dopant in a liquid medium to form a dopant composition;
- at least partially immersing said fabric in said dopant composition;
- and
- sonicating said dopant composition with an ultrasonic transducer such that said dopant composition penetrates said fabric interstices to an extent sufficient to establish a nonporous but permeable composite structure with said fabric.
A composite gas-separation membrane, comprising:
- a substrate body having first and second generally opposed surfaces defining a thickness therebetween, said body comprising a non-woven fabric of intermingled carbon nanotubes defining interstices between said intermingled carbon nanotubes;
- and
- a polymer dopant distributed within the interstices and throughout said thickness to form a network that is sufficient to establish a non-porous but permeable barrier between said first and second surfaces.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.